DRIVE FOR JUSTICE CAMPAIGN: Number of driving bans handed out by courts falls by 62%

Published:06:50Friday 25 November 2016

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One of the aims of the Drive For Justice campaign is to lobby for greater use of driving bans given out when sentencing and longer bans for those who kill or seriously injure on the roads.

Campaigners are supporting this call and believe greater use of driving bans would act as a deterrent to motorists when it comes to risky behaviour.

However, figures reveal driving bans being given by courts are rare and becoming rarer.

Between 2005 and 2015, they declined from around 150,000 to less than 60,000.

Amy Aeron-Thomas, advocacy and justice manager for RoadPeace, the charity for road crash victims, said:”It is very rare that drivers committing offences on the road are sent to prison. It is usually only if they kill someone they are given a prison sentence.

“For dangerous driving offences that do not result in a death, less than half of offenders go to prison.

“We believe the courts are forgetting that driving is not an entitlement but a privilege.

“We would like to see more disqualifications and with repeat offenders, much longer bans and the consideration of lifetime bans from driving.”

Gary Rae, campaigns director at road safety charity Brake says: “We believe drivers who kill and seriously injure should be taken off the road once they are charged as a condition of bail.

“Prosecutions often take months to come to court. In many cases, the driver charged is able to continue driving during this time potentially putting others in danger and often in the same community where the crash took place causing further distress to bereaved families

“We are not happy that many offenders are using extenuating circumstances to argue to allow them to drive again and again by saying not being able to drive would cause them extreme hardship.

“But then by being allowed to drive, sometimes that person has gone on to kill and caused extreme hardship to another family.

“Driving is a privilege, not a right. You do not have the right to put other people in danger.”